


Wolf Paws and Pack Structures

by RectifiedPear



Category: Alpha and Omega (2010)
Genre: AU, Canon Rewrite, Canon subversion, Character Development, Character Growth, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, F/M, Lies, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Minor Character Death, Minor Character(s), Multi, Pack Dynamics, Pack Politics, Protective Pack, Self-Doubt, Short Stories, Stand Alone Chapters, Wolf Pack, Wolves, lying, not all in order, tagged as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-07-01 06:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15768678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RectifiedPear/pseuds/RectifiedPear
Summary: Takes place after the first movie. All scenes thus far are post the first Alpha and Omega movie. Some during the movie might happen, but none likely in regards to any movie past the second and maybe the fourth one will come later.Stories and pieces from a fandom that never really held me, but I sort of liked.Title is a temp one until I get creative.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo, a lot of bs in the fandom and the show itself is worse than the fandom imo aside. I'm going to be super slow with this, it'll mostly be short stories, drabbles, the like. Class this as a rewrite, a canon denial, whatever. Many people deny any movie past the first one as canon, and thus I will tell you if you like canon Alpha & Omega movies, hit me up, tell me why. I get the first one was a trip in itself and not that great, and I personally like The Legend of the Sawtooth Cave, finding it the only movie out of them all I would class as semi-canon. So this is already a heads up, don't want a rewrite of whatever you want to call the series, don't read. Want a rewrite? Go ahead, but this is going to be a slow ride and might need some nudges due to the source material being so terrible.
> 
> Other things to note, yes, the puppies will come into play, all three, no they won't likely have their names in the movie, I never got over such awful names given to those pups. Especially when the other wolves have human-like names. 
> 
> Oh, and aging happens. Things age. Time actually passes, holy crap.

Kate found her job as alpha a rewarding one, if only because she was living in a new age. Humphrey stayed to her flank, loyal protector and back up to her on visits to other packs. The ranks had been destroyed, pushed aside by Kate and her sister Lilly. There were no ranks now, sure some would be more appropriately assigned to Alpha, and some to Omega, but when needed, an Omega could step up. Thus what separated wolves like Lilly and Garth was gone now.

“Dad looks to be doing better today.” Humphrey chimed in as Kate dug her fangs into a hare's throat, prey was plentiful this spring.

Kate gave him a look, trying to hide her smile, Humphrey's parents had died when he was young, and he'd been a part of their pack since, but with their bond, The Western Pack had seen Humprey as just as much Eve and Winston's kid as Lilly and Kate. He was their son in law, and he'd found himself clinging on and off since the day Eve had wrapped him in her paws and told him to never break her daughter's heart or she'd break his neck. 

“Is he?”

She cared deeply for her dad, but had grown up, something all Alpha's did. The lack of ranks did not change the fact she'd been raised to be an Alpha, it was a part of her, but it would die when they all had pups. She would slowly ween the packs out of this behavior that had damaged her and nearly cost both of them their lives. Her sister, Lilly, had been ready to elope with Garth, that had been the plan, until Kate and Humphrey had returned. 

The fear in Lilly's eyes around other packs was low key, kept in her eyes only. While Garth had become bristly and aggressive when his mate was questioned. The more packs that Kate walked to now, reinstating Winston's past words and reinventing the way things worked, the more she knew there would always be some biased wolves, but if they could just ease off gradually.....

“Yes, he smiled my way this morning after mom and I helped him with his hunt.” Humphrey wagged his tail excitedly. As if he was in the middle of reliving the hunt, “Dad ate his fill, mom and I dragged off the bones once we'd cleaned it. We buried any meat we didn't eat near his favorite tree, not too deep. He'll have a good lunch.”

“You love our parents.” She carried on, headed towards the Eastern Pack's territory. It was Garth and Lilly's now, but Tony still watched over it when Garth made his rounds. 

“I never knew mine.”

It had nearly caught her off guard. His tone was soft, like a regular Omegas, unlike her Humphrey. She stopped, gave him a quick bump with her hip and a lick on the cheek. “Humphrey...”

“It's far in the past, Kate. I'm just scared your old man, he got pretty badly hurt, that caribou-”

“My dad has been hurt many times, he's not down until he's down. He's a natural born Alpha.” She hissed inward. “A natural tough leader wolf.”

“... Do you think he's proud of us?”

What she heard was did Winston think they were good enough given they had no pups and Lilly had already had hers. It was not for a lack of trying. That was a lie, she thought. Kate had been dodging getting pregnant. All heat cycles she mated around, then made a point to hunt and do more until the cycle stopped. She would rear pups when she felt like rearing pups. So far, it had worked out well. 

“I think he understands, Humph, I think he'll love us even if we never have any.”

“We _will_ have some.” 

He sounded so certain of himself, tail lifted with his head as he strutted, flank bumping hers. He bore a massive smile as he strode ahead, moving branches and so on out of the way for her. She found the gesture so kind, she didn't dare argue. It would happen, just not yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Humphrey stared down at the gorge, a canyon filled with teeth and bones was deep in the water, pieces jutting out, the rocks were the teeth, the bones were his pack's, a deep furrow of paw prints and scratches were all around him in the dirt. Rain hit him square in the eyes as he turned to stare at the wolves around him. The Northern Pack was grinning, their new leader's maw dripping with blood. He eyed down where Humphrey had looked, and then at the wolf pup. “No one's here anymore, pup.” His stature was massive, and like a bear's. One large paw, big enough to crush a pup, smacked the mud. “Go ahead, jump.”

He shook his head, ears whipping water about. 

“No?”

The other paw came to push into the mud and he shivered, tail dropping to between his legs. “Please. Let me go. I won't tell.” One back foot slipped over the edge. He feared not the height, only the fall and what he'd land on. “I'm sorry!”

“Don't apologize on your parent's behalf, kid.”

The pack leader found this to be agreeable. “Yes. They've already paid their price. So have all your big sisters and brothers.” 

Humphrey knew what 'paid their price' meant, it was obvious that stealing from the pack and getting in had been a method to sever them apart. First his big sister had died, then his older brother, and finally, his mom had vanished. His dad had done his best, his siblings had vanished, seeming to desert them. Now it was just him. Him alone, in the rain, trying to bargain. 

“I'll learn to hunt and be better than them!”

“One pup do the work of seven?”

He gulped.

“Don't make me laugh.”

“I- PLEASE?!”

One spoke up, then whispered to another. Ears turned. “What was that, Jaw?”

“Said the Western Pack and Eastern Pack are looking for new blood.”

“He won't stay quiet.” Those green eyes were jades among pitch black fur. “You can't seriously think for one minute-”

“We can make him forget.”

Humphrey searched for gaps between paws, for anywhere he could go. Just one wolf slow enough and maybe he could run. 

“How?”

Teeth buried into his scruff, as though they had the foresight to know what he had planned. He inhaled the yelp that was choked off by his own skin. Back legs dangling helplessly, he met another Alpha's gaze, and ignored the Omega females who averted their eyes, some of them had birthed pups who he'd played with. 

An explosion of pain erupted in his head. He yelped, but it came again. Like being thrown down the gorge, but not. His head throbbed, something warm trickled down his back legs, the stench of wee, his eyes rolled back, red covered his vision. He tottered, somehow free, and then fell onto his side before he could run.

 

Humphrey jerked awake, his chest thundering like the sky's claps during a storm. He couldn't see! The cause for that came quickly, as he pulled his face from being buried in Kate's fur. She was pleasantly asleep, the scent of their recent attempt fresh in the air. He tried to stop the panic attack, but found it had been far too much. Breath shaking him, he rose to his legs and went to drink from the lake. 

The cool water made his dry mouth feel better, thirst quenched, Humphrey waded in up to his shoulders and washed himself clean. He found any swelling from the hunting was alleviated, and nearly floated along. The rogue pack of his dreams was slowly fading, he could barely recall more than a wolf's face. _What a strange dream._ Dunking his head, he found the headache, too, was abating in intensity. 

It was a relief he'd not howled himself awake in a frenzy and scared everyone else. Kate would have lost it, and Winston and Eve needed their sleep. He shook his head and laughed, muzzle burying into water and stirring bubbles up. _I could have woke the dead with that howl._ He'd woken rogues in the past, a past before Kate looked at him the same way he'd looked at her.

Kate had a plan that involved less rogues now, and their pack had grown, new members, and the past was United now, though he still liked to call Western Pack as it was, and Eastern Pack likewise, united just meant they were one. 

Shaking himself off, Humphrey made his way back inside. His mate was still asleep, no one was roused by his steps. Humphrey sighed, rested his head upon her shoulders, and shut his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a headcanon long before it was rumored a movie(which never happened how the rumors sold it) would show Humphrey visiting his parents or such in a pack. My headcanon was he was traded in, everyone treated him like he was some stray scooped up. Rather than have the massive bs dramas of Dino Digs or such, I've gone to my headcanon and decided to build on it some.


	3. Chapter 3

“Is something weighing upon your mind, my son?” Winston's aged voice asked, it sliced through the jungle of thorns Humphrey's mind was in. Yanking him free from the snarls inside of himself, Humphrey turned to stare upon his father-in-law with the best composure he could force. It was not much, bloody-lipped and idly pulling tufts of fur from his rabbit had left him with fluff stuck to both his face and his paws as he licked his drying jowls and tried to form words.

“What makes you think there is?”

He'd not meant to word that so defensively, the crease in Winston's forehead spoke that it had been a bad reply, the older wolf dropping his squirrel to have Eve pick up her half-chewed meal and slip it in place of his. Winston was too proud to let his mate chew his food for him, but when distracted, would eat pre-chewed meat. He did so as he examined Humphrey.

He was grateful Kate was catching them some more food, his parents both looked hungry this morning. Eve's round features had a slight angle that worried him, and he suspected she was slipping more over to Winston than feeding herself. It was a small change Kate had undoubtedly caught. Was that why she was hunting so diligently with Garth's pack? Was Tony just as bad? He'd not seen a lot of Tony in a long time. 

“You're doing it again.”

“Sorry, sir.” 

“No need for that.” He rose to his feet to discard bones into a hole they had where pups played and chewed upon teething 'toys' until they could hunt. Returning, he ate what was left for him. “I'm not the Alpha anymore, I'm your dad.”

Eve nuzzled Winston, then nodded. “We're _both_ no longer Alphas, just your parents now, son.”

He tripped over himself some. Words no longer working.

“Speak boy!”

Eve's tone, one known to make any spunky male or alpha cower snapped through the cave and echoed. Her gaze was potent. He felt commanded, no, willed to do as his mother said. She had always had that weird quirk or superpower to her. 

“Do you guys remember... how I became pack?”

They looked between them, heads now raised, ears pulled back. There was a nature of sadness he had not expected to see among them. 

“You do, right?”

Winston spoke first. “It's been so many moons, son. Summers have come and passed since then.” 

“But you remember!”

“Yes,” Eve began, paws smoothing her features and taking any blood upon themselves only to be licked clean. “But, Humphrey. It's not pretty.”

“I deserve to know, mom, dad!” He shoved the half eaten rabbit at them and rose to pace. “I've had dreams.”

“Dreams?” His mother echoed.

Winston looked a whole twelve moons older as he stared.

“Yes! They fade fast, but I remember places that aren't here are in them, that's it. I remember someone... but not why. Where did I come from? I'm no one's kid here, I'm adopted and yours now, I'm Kate's husband, I'm the future father to her pups, I'm Garth's brother-in-law, Lilly's too, but who was my real family‽”

“That we don't know.”

He spun on his heels to stare at both. His features crestfallen.

“What?”

“Your family, before being pack, we don't know. We were told you were an orphan.”

“Wh...”

Eve continued, a quick lick to Winston's head, “We took you in expecting you to die, you were sick, one of our wolves with pups nursed you for half a moon, and only that because some of your puppy teeth were missing and you couldn't eat meat. Humphrey, son, you looked so frail. We needed Omegas, the packs knew this and started kidnapping them if they could and trading. You were the first one we had to take in.”

“... … if I had been an Alpha?”

“We'd have scooped you up still. Beta. Omega. Alpha. Son, Eve almost tore the throats of them out, Kate was only so much older than you. My mate, she's a soft spot for pups and you were so small we feared you'd never grow.” Winston smiled nervously. “You exceeded all expectations.”

“Does Kate … know?”

“Goodness no!” His mother snapped. “She met you when you were older, you don't remember meeting her?”

“I do, just not how I looked.” He sat down to think about this. He'd been offered to a pack because Omegas were in demand. He was part of the Western Pack to fill in a hole rended open by nature and age likely. All the old Omegas had died, at least that was what he recalled. There had just been him and his friends. Wait...   
“My friends, were they brought here by the same pack? Mooch, Salty, Shakey?” He looked at them with an expression of concern.

“Salty came here as a juvenile, so did Shakey.”   
“And Mooch?”

They turned their eyes. 

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“The same pack who gave us you, gave us Mooch moons later.” She replied, but Winston chimed in. “Mooch was in better condition on the outside.”

As Omegas they had joked and talked a lot, but had he ever really asked where they came from? They were as unrelated as him. He cursed himself for never thinking to ask. How many conversations had they had that were empty and barren? How many times could he have stumbled upon the truth? He should have known this about himself. Did Mooch even know it about himself? Humphrey forced a smile and bowed his head. 

“Thank you mom and dad, I'd like to go talk with my friends. This was a lot to take in.”

“Be safe, sweetie. We love you.”

“Take care son.” 

He caught them both asking each other if they had done the right thing. Humphrey's paw steps felt heavier as he ran off.


	4. Chapter 4

Humphrey found his gang lollygagging about near the other wolves, they were off to the side still. Their romances were stagnant or faltering. Their love interests had issues with them. Mooch and Salty were not loyal, or so the talk went. They couldn't go through with mating for life, and so they instead let their gaze drift.

Shakey however was never settling down, only jumping from female to female. The wolves quickly caught onto this, and spoke their contempt. It shook them. More so the threats from other Alphas than the snappy females. The three were good with females biting their heads off. They liked the fire.

The pack had been very accepting, mainly the older ones, and now that made sense. His friends, like him, had been taken in from other packs. They had no family –or worse, they believed their parents were actually theirs and that there was nothing else beyond their friendship than all winding up lumped together by their 'moms'.

He made his rounds, gazing at everyone. Several nodded their head, regarded him with kindness. He answered how Kate was, and so forth.

“She having her pups yet?”

“We're still trying.” He replied. He couldn't understand why it wasn't working. He hoped next round yielded results. 

“Bring her goose, or duck!”

One of the ones who wanted them to turn to more natural plants and berries, chimed in. “No! Pine needle soup will make her more fertile!”

“Nonsense, fir-breath, what Kate needs is the liver of a duck, worked for me during a rough season. Ah, my mate fed me so much duck, and what happened? _Seven_ pups!”

“O-okay....” He didn't even know if he could imagine _seven_ pups, could he handle two? What was the normal amount of pups? Kate had a sister, Garth had many brothers. Eve and Winston had never mentioned any dead young. Maybe he'd have to ask that next. Would that be rude? He felt like he should have siblings, maybe he did, maybe he _had._

“Humphrey, my man!” Shakey said, bouncing to his paws and smiling wide.

“Heeeey, what's shaking, Shakes?”

“Not much, eyeing the ladies, single, otherwise, all of them.” He clicked his tongue. “Except yours of course.”

“Of course.” He didn't feel reassured.

“What brings you to our area, got some plans?”

“Well... no, just wanted to hang.”

Mooch sat up and scratched an ear, yawned, than rolled over. “You sure we can't stir up trouble like the old days?”  
“Maybe later, I'd like to talk. Where's Salty?”

“With another lady wolf.” Mooch rolled his eyes. “Shaky and Salty always get the best dibs on everyone.”

“Work out more, you're scaring them.”

Mooch snorted and rolled onto his side, gesturing at himself. “As if a lady can resist how much of me there is to looove.”

“If I can find love, so can you guys. Let's go find Salty, I need to ask all three of you something, not just you two lookers.” They woofed out laughs, both raising to follow him. Mooch kept his pace, nose shoved upward as he bumped Shakey aside and tried his best to not look like the biggest wolf, in more ways than one, the pack had ever had.

Salty was not far, they came upon him spilling undying dedication upon a wolf, one from Garth's pack that was in the area. Her face read great disinterest and to Humphrey she looked as though she might even be related to Garth. Perhaps a cousin, his father had brothers in smaller packs. She looked to them as if to say 'save me' while Salty did a soft croon and told her how the stars had predicted such a mating between good-looking wolves would go.

Pulling a paw back, she hid the lip curl and coughed. “S-Salty, dear,” it held not the affection he seemed to think it did, “friends of yours?”

“Hm? Oh, oh yes!” Humphrey was grabbed. “This is the Alpha's mate, Humphrey, my _best_ friend. He's Garth's brother-in-law, and Lilly's too. You know, your alpha?”

“Easy buddy.” Mooch said. “You're not hunting a moose.”

Salty seemed to go from happy to mad, and Humphrey had never really thought much on it until now, but they all tended to have moodswings. But was that just because of what he'd been told, or had it always been this obvious? Had he always been so naive? He watched Shakey nervously tremble and hold a paw out. 

“We have something more important to discuss.”

“What's more important than finding a mate?” He snapped.

“Humphrey needs to talk to us all. No chicks.” Mooch batted his eyes, ignoring the growl his pack mate was making. “No offense, miss. . .”

“Cherry. None taken.”

A lull slipped over the moody wolf, he tilted his head at his fellow Omega. “Is it our Alpha, our new Omega leader, or our friend who's asking it?”

“Salty!”

“Your friend.” Hunphrey snapped in a tone that snapped them all to attention. “You and Cherry can talk later, this involves all of us.”

“How?”

“Let her go first.”

He nodded, his eyes suddenly sad. “See you later...”

Cherry bade him a smile. “I will be back.”

As soon as the tawny female was gone, all eyes fell upon Humphrey, their butts planted in grass and loose soil, they awaited him to speak. He tried to weigh his words out. This was a terrible topic, one he didn't really know how to touch upon.

“Do any of you remember your childhood.” He eyed them all, shushing them before they could all speak at once. “ _Before_ we became part of this pack?” 

Silence. They glanced between each other. Mooch's expression was staring him down, like he was crazy to ever suggest that a before existed. Salty and Shakey shifted looks, thinking and clawing the ground under-paw. They seemed to take more consideration here. Regardless, he noted all of them were shook. They almost looked as if they were staring down a whole herd alone. He hoped this wasn't going to cause trouble, But since when did an Omega _not_ cause trouble?


End file.
